“There has been an impressive and welcome surge in business expectations in the post-election period,” notes Stephen Koukoulas, economic adviser to Dun & Bradstreet. “Expected profits, employment and sales have all jumped sharply, which bodes well for the economy over the second half of 2016.”

In other expected results for the December quarter, more than half of businesses (57.3%) are more optimistic about growth in the next 12 months compared to 2015, while 31.1% are less optimistic and 11.6% are undecided.

Businesses indentified the biggest barriers to the growth in the year ahead as utilities and operational costs (15.6%) and weak demand for products and services (15.4%).

More than three quarters of businesses (78.8%) do not plan to seek finance or new credit in the December quarter to fund growth, while 14.2% anticipate doing so and 5.3% are undecided.

The top issue expected to influence operations in the quarter is consumer confidence (30.8%), followed by cash flow (14.4%) and the level of the Australian dollar (12.7%).

Interestingly, just over half of businesses said the federal election result would have no impact on their business, while 19.2% believe it will have a positive impact, 11.3% expect a negative impact and 14.2% are undecided.

“The RBA will be pleased to see the improvement in business expectations, even though it is still likely to cut interest rates further to help ensure the positive tone in the business sectors translates to a stronger economy over the remainder of 2016 and into 2017,” adds Koukoulas.

The survey also reveals actual results from the June 2016 quarter, with employment, sales and profits all improving, while capital investment and selling prices fell:

·Actual employment increased from 2.3 points in the March quarter to 5.3 points in the June quarter